


What We Could Be

by lourryloving



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Cheating, Coming Out, Dirty Talk, Friends to Lovers, Infidelity, M/M, Pining, Rimming, Size Kink, Smut, Top Harry, very very minor homophobic slurs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-12 14:01:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13548849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lourryloving/pseuds/lourryloving
Summary: “Just let this happen, Louis,” Harry whispers, placing soft kisses up Louis’ neck. “I know you want it.”And the worst thing is that Louis does want it, he wants to feel Harry’s hands on his body, smell his cologne and only his cologne, he wants to suck bruises up his neck, wants to mark him up, but its wrong.He mutters as such, and Harry quiets him with a hard kiss to the lips. Their first kiss.“I won’t tell if you won’t.”orHarry and Louis are co-workers, and all Louis wants is Harry's attention. Until he gets it, and it all becomes too much.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first chaptered fic that I've actually written more than an outline for! 
> 
> I'm very excited yet scared to post this, and I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> special thanks to my beta for beta'ing this, but if you see any mistakes they are all my own
> 
> please comment your thoughts and the next chapter should be up soon! 
> 
> lots of love 
> 
> ps. tagging sucks, if ive forgotten anything just let me know. also first couple of chapters are a bit slow, but stick around anyway

It’s fine.

That’s what Louis tells himself as someone else’s husband was fucking into him.

That’s what Louis tells himself when he’s constantly reminded that he is the side piece.

That’s what Louis repeats every time Harry re-buckles his belt and leaves his apartment in a haze of messy hair, glossy eyes, ruby red lips, the scent of sex and sweat in the air.

It isn’t the best arrangement but it could definitely be worse. For example, Louis could be the one that is being cheated on. But no, HE is the one that was doing the hurting, HE is the one in the wrong, HE is the one who is constantly sleeping with a married man. And yet he can’t seem to stop.

So fine is what Louis settled for.

Fine. 

It’s fine.

+

It started out as an innocent enough work relationship. Louis was fresh out of university, excited to have a paid internship at a real accounting firm, Clyde and Co. He was bushy tailed and bright eyed, and livened up the boring work environment with banter, giggles, personal trips to get colleagues cups of tea, regardless if he knew them or not. 

Louis wasn’t a pushover, but he liked to be liked. 

Especially by his gorgeous desk neighbour. The delicious Harry Styles. He looked incredible in a suit and the way his giant hands hovered over his keyboard and picked up the phone made Louis swoon. 

Except when Harry picked up the phone with his left hand with an excited “hey, baby!” and put it down with an “I love you”, his silver wedding band shining like a blinding reminder to Louis that Harry was taken. 

\+ 

“Drinks after work, mate?” Zayn says to Louis during their lunch break. “It’s happy hour from five til seven at the bar two blocks from here. Three pound pints so we can all afford to get smashed.” 

Louis smiles around his cup of tea, “Sounds great. I’ve been waiting since my first day to be invited to your after work drinks.” 

Zayn laughs while Liam slides into the seat opposite them, pulling out some sort of kale and quinoa and lentil salad from his bag. Louis wrinkles his nose around his cheese-y pasta bake, clearly against Liam’s new fitness agenda. 

“Is this about after work drinks?” Liam asks, a bit of quinoa in his teeth. “I’m in! And I overheard that Grace’s out of town so we have an additional member joining us tonight.” 

“Grace?” Louis asks. 

“Harry’s wife,” Zayn answers, after swallowing a gulp of his Pepsi Max. “Usually Friday night is date night, so Harry can never come to our post work celebrations.” 

Right, Harry’s wife. Louis is suddenly not hungry anymore. He subtly pulls his container lid back onto the box, his pasta looking sad and bland and Louis personally relates to that. 

“Looking forward to tonight, lads!” Louis stands up, taking his container with his half-eaten lunch still in it. “got to get back to work, though. Lunch time doesn’t pay the bills.” He half-heartedly chuckles, both dreading and looking forward to the after work drinks. 

Dreading because he had to spend time with the man who he had a giant, juvenile crush on.

But looking forward to it because at least he could drink enough to forget about how much Harry doesn’t like him back. 

\+ 

Louis works as hard as he can in the three hours between lunch and the time he can leave, but Friday afternoons are draining and all he can really be bothered with is to play minesweeper on the ancient computers they have in the office. 

After what seems like four million years, Louis feels a touch on his shoulder. He turns around to see Zayn, Liam and Niall grinning at him expectantly. 

“Working hard, I see Tommo.” Niall leans forward and turns off Louis’ monitor. 

Louis rolls his eyes, but starts to pack up the things on his desk into his backpack. He stands up and takes his coat off the back of his chair, smirking at his colleagues. 

“What are we waiting for lads? Let’s get hammered.” Louis sings. 

The boys cheer and excitedly head towards the elevators. 

+

They tumble into a booth into the nearby pub laughing about a remark the bartender made after giving them their first of many pints for the evening. Louis chuckles along with the rest of them, and has pretty much forgotten about Harry, especially when the other boys mention ordering food, and Louis thinks about his half-eaten lunch, and delicious, greasy pub feeds. 

The boys finish their first pints, ordering a second round of drinks and dinner for each of them.

Louis has his half finished pint in one hand, and a mostly finished burger in the other when he sees Harry swagger into the pub. 

It’s like the world slows down as the door shuts behind him. Harry looks gorgeously disheveled, the top two buttons of his stark white shirt undone and his blue tie hangs loosely around his neck. He tosses his hair back as he smiles and waves over at the other four men in the booth, stopping at the bar to order a drink. 

Louis drops his burger down onto his plate wiping his hands with his napkin before quickly downing the rest of his beer. 

“Woah, Lou, slow down,” Liam says, mouth full of shepherd’s pie. “the night is still young, you don’t want to peak too early.” 

Louis grunts after swallowing his drink, avoiding looking at Harry as he slides into the booth, swinging an arm around Niall’s shoulders. 

“Sorry I’m late, lads, had to finish that project before the weekend.” Harry says, taking a long sip of his beer. “Grace organised a trip to the beach for tomorrow, even though its ten degrees outside and we’ll be inside the whole time, I don’t want to take any work down there.” 

Liam and Zayn ‘aw’ at Harry’s fond look of love in his eyes. Niall rolls his eyes but chuckles and pats Harry’s hand hanging over his shoulder. 

Louis smiles tightly when Harry glances over at him, and Harry responds with his own confused look. 

Louis looks over at Niall, “’nother pint, mate?” 

Niall licks his lips and nods excitedly, shoving Harry off the seat, the leather making the slide easy, before pulling Louis towards the bar. They nod at the bartender to signify that they want another round and soon enough, two more beers are placed on the bar mat in front of them. 

Louis quickly takes a hold of the cool glass, condensation bleeding through the cracks of his fingers as he downs at least a third of his drink in one gulp. 

“Calm down, mate, fucks sake,” Niall exclaims. “You’ve been antsy since Harry got here, why? You guys are desk buds! I thought you two were tight.” 

“Yeah,” Louis grimaces, quickly trying to make up a reason why he can’t stand being around Harry. He glances over at Harry laughing at something Zayn says, his eyes crinkled, mouth open in a loud howl. Louis smiles slightly as he sees Harry so happy. But then, he feels a stab in the stomach as he is reminded that he can’t have Harry. 

“It’s just, um, a bit tough, I guess, seeing and hearing talking about his wife makes me a bit upset because,” he takes a staggering breath, wracking his brain. “I recently came out of my own long term relationship and its, urr, hard seeing Harry so happy because its what I used to have.” 

Louis is very clearly lying, but either Niall is drunker than he thought or he is a very good liar because Niall’s face somewhat crumples and he pulls Louis in for a big hug. 

He tries his best to pull away from Niall’s iron grip, “don’t worry, mate. We’ll find you someone else to be with. Maybe not tonight, but eventually, you will move on from this.” 

Louis thanks Niall, albeit a bit awkwardly as Niall’s hand has taken place on Louis’ neck, ensuring that the smaller man doesn’t break this intense eye contact Niall is desperate to maintain. 

For the rest of the night each time any man at all walks past, Niall kicks Louis hard under the table, raising his eyebrows and making obscene hand gestures. Eventually Zayn gets sick of seeing Louis roll his eyes every four minutes, so he asks the question the other three boys need the answer to. 

“Why the hell is Niall staring intensely at every man who walks past our table?” Zayn asks, as the bartender who bought the boys their last round of drinks walks away, and Niall blatantly checks out his ass as he walks by. “Didn’t know you swung that way.” 

Niall sighs, “I’m not looking for someone for me, you fucking idiot. I’m looking for someone for Louis!” 

Three pairs of eyes look widely at Louis and he can feel himself flushing all the way down his chest. 

“Is there a particular reason why you’re on the prowl for Louis?” Liam questions. 

“Well,” Niall starts, “he’s actually getting over someone, and we need to help him move on.” 

Three pairs of shocked eyes turn into pity, and Louis realizes with a start that he needs to create a backstory for this fake relationship excuse that he’s backed himself into. 

“Louis,” Liam starts. “I didn’t know that you were going through this, why didn’t you tell us?” 

Louis sighs, “Lads, I’ve been in this office for four weeks, why would I tell you all about my past relationships?” 

Harry turns his head to look directly into Louis’ eyes. “I’ve bought up Grace heaps of times, you could’ve talked about your past partners!” 

Harry looks so earnest and honest and Louis can’t stand it one second more. “Fuck, I need a smoke.” He mutters. 

Zayn makes an excited noise, and looks up from his whisky and coke and follows Louis outside to the front of the pub. 

Louis pulls out a fag from his Marlboro Gold box, followed by his blue lighter, cups a hand around the end of the smoke and lights up. He takes a deep breath, smoke filling his lungs and his head spinning just enough, before he breathes it out with a sigh. 

“Lou,” Zayn says through a mouthful of smoke. “Are you okay? 

“It’s just,” he starts, taking another deep drag of his smoke. “My life has just changed so much recently, and I’m just adjusting to this nine-to-five and all this other responsibility like living alone and not being at uni and now I have Niall on my back about a new guy to date, and he doesn’t know this, but every boy which he winked at was straight, and I know this because I have a gay-dar.” 

Zayn barks out a laugh and Louis chuckles at himself before rubbing his hand over his face. 

“Well,” Zayn starts, “if you need anyone to be set up with, as a bisexual man, I can help you out.” 

He pats Louis on the back, and pulls him into a good ol’ fashioned bro hug. 

“Lou, in all seriousness though, if you need anything, please let me know.” Zayn is so earnest and so honest, and probably Louis’ favourite person at the office and maybe Louis has had a bit too much to drink, maybe it’s just the first time someone has shown him at least platonic love in a while, maybe he’s just a bit sad and lonely, but tears burn behind his eyes as he breathes in Zayn’s scent. 

Good lord he’s got himself into a mess.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are my own etc! 
> 
> enjoy

Over the next couple of weeks, Niall shows Louis pictures of guys he’s met through Grindr and Tinder, all of whom seem to be either way too muscular, pouty and posed in their mirror selfies or too cute and twinky like Louis himself. 

It’s not like Louis has a type, but he does. He likes tall guys, who aren’t too big and muscular and who have nice smiles, beautiful eyes, and smell wonderful and who, evidently enough, are married. 

The seventh time Niall emails him a screenshot of a very one-sided Tinder conversation ending with an unsolicited dick-pic and four million winky faces that Louis pulls the other boy aside in the kitchen.

“Niall,” Louis hisses, pulling Niall away from the mini quiches, “stop setting me up with your dumb, trash Tinder men. I don’t need a boyfriend or even a hookup, so please, stop.” 

Niall opens his mouth to protest, but promptly fills it with the quiche in his hand. Louis rolls his eyes at the other boy’s standard behavior. Niall swallows his mouthful and swallows it down with a gulp of instant coffee. 

“But I want you to be happy, Lou!” Niall exclaims, just as excited and earnest as he was that night Louis confessed his fake reasons for being upset. And Louis feels just as bad as he did that night at the bar. 

“I am happy,” Louis insists. “And besides, I’ve heard rumours that Nancy from HR has been reading everyone’s emails and I really hope that she hasn’t seen any of the dumb shit you’ve been sending me. Then we’ll have to stay behind again for another sexual harassment and workplace boundaries meeting.” 

A loud cackle is what erupts from Niall’s mouth, and although Louis is serious about the meeting, he can’t help but smile at the way the other boy is so carefree and does not give a shit about the strange looks people are giving him in the office. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll stop sending you the pictures. I promise.” 

Louis breathes a sigh of relief, “none of the men you suggested were my type anyway.” 

The very offended look that Niall gives him makes Louis laugh again, before taking a shortbread biscuit and walking away back to his desk, a smirk on his face. 

“What? How? They were all the men I would hook up with if I was gay!” 

\+ 

To Louis’ genuine surprise, Niall does find someone to go on a date with (who is not from Grindr, also to Louis’ surprise). Niall tells Louis that his brother’s girlfriend has a friend who is also looking to get over someone he dated. Apparently, according to Niall, this is a perfect reason for Louis and this Greek God to get together and have dinner. 

Adam is tall and handsome with shaggy dark hair and light grey eyes. He’s a similar height to Harry, although a bit stockier compared to Harry’s lean build, but he still looks gorgeous in a bright white shirt and a dark blue jacket when Louis meets him at the restaurant’s bar that Friday night. 

Louis tentatively approaches him, and marvels at the way his beard is perfectly manicured, and how his black and silver Daniel Wellington watch perfectly frames his tattooed hands. 

After the initial introductions, Adam orders them both a glass of wine at the bar, where they make pleasant small talk until the hostess comes over and tells them their table is ready. 

Louis discovers that Adam works at a law firm, and he too is only a couple of years out of university. He talks a lot about the divorce case he’s currently working on, every other case he’s worked on since joining the firm and about how his uncle got him the job there. 

The waitress soon comes over, fills up their wine glasses and takes their orders. Adam, again orders an appetizer for them both to share, and despite the fact that this whole assuming business doesn’t really sit well with Louis, Adam seems polite enough and they keep playing footsie under the table, which, to be honest, is super cute. At least Louis thinks so. 

When the waitress brings them their main meals, forty minutes into the date, Adam finally asks about Louis. 

“So, how do you know Amy?” Adam says after a sip of wine. 

“I work with her boyfriend’s brother,” Louis replies, taking his own glass of wine. “I just started at an accounting firm uptown. I’m there on an internship, just left uni the end of last year.” 

Adam’s eyes widen comically, “Wait, you’re only 22?” 

Louis laughs, and Adam grins in reply before taking the other boys hand over the table. Adams thumb rubs small, inconsistent patterns on the back of Louis’ hand, and he blushes while looking down at his meal. Louis continues to talk about his job, although Adam quickly retakes control of the conversation, barely letting Louis get more than three sentences in before interrupting with his own stories. Louis quietly takes his hand back and places it in his lap.

The rest of the date remains the same, Adam mostly talking about himself and Louis letting him. People love talking about themselves anyway, and nothing about Adam has struck Louis as really concerning. 

After denying the offer of some dessert from the waitress, Adam quickly slides his American Express card into the cheque tray and before Louis can protest, the waitress comes back and swiftly collects the card. 

Adam offers to drive Louis home, as he claims he doesn’t want the younger boy to take the tube alone at this time of night. Louis, in his defense, puts up a good fight, but eventually gives in and slides into Adam’s beautiful silver BMW. 

For a first date, it was enjoyable enough, and when Adam leaves Louis at the bottom of his apartment complex (because he’s a gentleman) with a lingering kiss on the cheek, Louis cannot stop smiling until he gets to sleep. 

+

“How was the date?” Niall sings as soon as he sees Louis at his desk on Monday morning. 

“Oh, you had a date?” Harry asks, sliding over in his office chair. 

“Did I hear the D-word?” Zayn also strides over, a cup of tea in his hand, and Louis rolls his eyes as Liam follows the others like a little lost puppy. 

Louis sighs and turns around from his emails, swiveling in his chair towards four excited faces. 

“Yeah, I had a date this weekend.” Louis replies. “I will allow each of you one question each, and no more.” 

“Why just one question though?” asks a pouting Niall. 

At this rate, Louis thinks that his eyes will permanently be at the back of his head considering how much he has been rolling his eyes lately. 

“Because I said so, and that was your question, tough luck.” 

Niall begins to protest but Liam cuts him off with a question. “Who was it and where did he take you?” 

“That, my dear Liam was two questions, but because I like you, I shall answer both. It was a friend of Niall’s brother’s girlfriend, and we went to that semi-high end restaurant downtown, you know the one with the red walls and the very tall chairs?” 

The other four nod in response, Niall waggling his eyebrows as he whispers in Zayn’s ear, “That’s where I told Adam to meet Louis.” 

“Ah, Adam is his name,” Zayn comments, before blowing onto his tea and taking a long sip without breaking eye contact with Louis. “That answers my initial question about this mystery man.” 

With a hum and a thoughtful tap to his chin, Zayn asks his question after a couple of moments of silence. “where did the night end up? His bed? Your bed? A stall in the restaurant bathroom?” 

The other boys all clap and giggle quietly so not to draw the attention of Nick, their general manager. 

“It ended on my doorstep, thank you very much.” Louis replies. 

“An exhibitionist!” Zayn cheers. “I wouldn’t pick you as the type Lou Bear, God, I hope the neighbours didn’t catch you!” 

Niall cackles and Harry lets out a loud laugh which gains the attention of Hayley, their useless receptionist at the firm. Louis gives her an awkward wave and she eventually turns back around to her desk with a huff. 

“No, that absolutely did not happen, fuckin’ hell.” 

Niall is still stifling laughter behind his hand, his face going a dangerous red. 

Louis manages to get their attention back, “It ended with a small kiss on my cheek, on my doorstep, thank you, and I am never telling you anything again.” Louis looks pointledly at Zayn. He shrugs in response.

“One last question, Harold?” 

All eyes turn towards Harry, thoughtfully looking at Louis with quite a piercing stare. He remains quiet for a couple of intense moments before opening his mouth, “Will Adam get a second date?” 

The boys turn back to Louis almost in unison, although Louis is so entranced by the way Harry is looking at him, he doesn’t notice the others. 

“Yeah,” Louis mumbles, “I think he will.” 

Harry doesn’t respond just smiles slightly before turning back around towards his computer. 

“Oi!” comes a yell from the other side of the office, clearly Nick has seen them all crowded around one desk. “Get back to work lads! I don’t pay you to stand around and fuck about!” 

For the first time since starting at the firm, Louis is grateful for Nick’s management style, and sends him a thank-you wave as the other boys slink off back to their own desks. 

\+ 

Two days later, Louis receives a text from Adam regarding a second date. And true to his word, Louis accepts and is actually looking forward to spending more time with him to get to know him better.

This time, Adam suggests a low-key event, to come over to his apartment and order take away and watch some movies. Louis, ever the romantic, agrees to a casual night in. Adam is quite keen to have Louis over at his place, and Louis doesn’t object. There’s not enough room in his tiny flat for one, let alone two, and Louis still wants to impress Adam and his shithole apartment is not a way to do so. 

Saturday night has Louis quickly buzzing himself up to Adam’s apartment, a couple of large pizzas in his hands in anticipation for this date.

Adam’s apartment is lavish yet minimalist, Adam himself looking exquisite as per usual in a white tee that clings to his torso and big biceps and grey track pants which are so casual but so very hot. He greets Louis with a chaste kiss on the lips, and Louis is surprised, but doesn’t object. 

Their second date is even more lovely than the first, the two men feeding each other slices of pizza and sips of beer on the couch while Dirty Dancing plays on Adam’s giant flat-screen TV. It ends with messy blowjobs on the couch and Louis staying the night. He leaves the next morning with two hickeys, a small one on the underside of his collarbone, and another deep dark bruise in the inside of his thigh. 

Louis can feel it with each step he takes, and he relishes in the reminder it brings. 

The somewhat controlling behavior which Louis picked up on during the first date wasn’t evident on the second one, so Louis puts it down to pre-date jitters and doesn’t think much more of it. 

+

It’s after bad third date with Adam that Louis realizes how much he was relying on the interaction with the other man to keep himself happy and sane.

The date had started out good enough, a fancy restaurant like their first date, the hostess giving them a cozy booth table. Louis gets a tad of déjà vu, with Adam ordering wine and appetizers for the both of them, without Louis go-ahead. Louis takes a deep breath, red flags and warning signals going off again in his head. It’s fine, he thinks, it doesn’t have to be anything more than Adam knowing what he wants.

They started to get into a conversation about the their respective siblings, when a middle-aged man approaches Adam at the table. 

Louis quickly discovers after ten seconds of interaction between them, that this is one of Adam’s divorcee clients from the firm, a wealthy gentleman who seems to be halfway through suing his second wife. 

“… And the fuckin’ bitch just thinks that because I knocked her up four years ago with that little brat that I wanted to have another kid! I already have to pay for my first son, a faggy piece of shit. I swear to fuckin’ God that I should’ve forced her to have an abortion!” Louis stiffens in his seat, watching the man bellow loudly, slapping Adam on the shoulder before glancing over at him. “It’s all this fuckin’ third wave feminist bullshit that makes her think she can get a bloody penny out of me to pay for the kid.”

With another deep breath in, Louis quickly becomes very uncomfortable in this situation, and tries to convey this to Adam through his facial expressions. Adam however, ignores him.

Adam quickly looks over at Louis before turning his attention to the man who interrupted their dinner. “Of course, Mr Martin, rest assured, we won’t make you pay a penny for your child, or your own faggy son.” 

“Excuse me,” Louis mutters, before pulling off his napkin and hurrying out of the restaurant. In his own opinion, Louis can’t get out of there fast enough. 

\+ 

He quickly jumps in a cab, which was thankfully waiting empty outside of the restaurant. As the taxi pulls away from the curb, Louis can see Adam quickly run out of the restaurant and frantically look around to see where his date had gone. Louis slinks down in the taxi, thankful for once that his below-average size gives him the advantage of becoming somewhat invisible. 

The cab reaches his apartment about 20 minutes later, Louis muttering a quiet “keep the change,” after passing the driver a twenty pound note. 

The apartment complex is quiet when Louis enters the code to open the door, clearly everyone is out and enjoying themselves on this Friday night. His phone vibrates in his back pocket, and he blatantly ignores it as he has done for the past twenty minutes. He knows its Adam wanting to explain or apologise or something else, but Louis just can’t deal with that right now. 

The air is cold when Louis opens the door of his flat. The small area seems so much bigger when all Louis can hear is his own steady breath. He checks his phone for the time, a mistake as he sees the blank numbers of 7:58 staring back at him, and the twelve missed calls from Adam and seven unanswered texts. 

Adam 7:36: was that you in that cab?   
Adam 7:40: Call me back   
Adam 7:42: That wasn’t what it seems like im sorry   
Adam 7:44: We need to connect with clients that’s why I said what I said   
Adam 7:50: Fuck I didn’t mean it like that call me back I can explain   
Adam 7:52: Call me back   
Adam 7:57: Please baby, I need to explain

Louis throws his phone angrily on the floor, not really caring if the screen smashes. He is genuinely in awe about how Adam can represent someone like that, someone who insulted his own sexuality right to his face. And Adam is tall and muscular and not your traditional looking gay man, he probably doesn’t have to deal with bullies like that often. But Louis did, and still does to an extent and he absolutely will not stand for it.

He just can’t get over how this night turned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts !
> 
> next chapter we get into the good stuff so stick around 
> 
> also uni starts again next week so i will try to keep updates constant although i cant promise anything


	3. Chapter 3

It’s just turned 8:39 and Louis has finished half a packet of corn chips, some semi mouldy hummus he found at the back of his fridge and two and a half beers when he realizes he’s pathetic. Instead of mindlessly watching episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, all of which he’s seen about four hundred times, he thinks he really could be more productive. 

He decides to head back to the office and finish up a report which he and Liam have been working on all week. Louis quickly gets changed from his pajama tracksuit pants into a cleaner pair, putting on a sweater and raincoat after looking at the weather outside. He pulls on a pair of Adidas sneakers, and sneaks his umbrella from the hook next to the front door. The hour trip to the office via the tube at this time of night is not something Louis is looking forward to, but it’s much better than sitting at home feeling sorry for himself. Instead he can sit at the office and feel sorry for himself, but also get some work done while doing it. 

The office is dark once he gets inside, clearly everyone else has other incredible plans for a Friday night, and Louis doesn’t blame them. He gets to his desk, turns his lamp and monitor on, and while it starts up (which can take up to 15 minutes) he wanders into the printing room, moves four boxes of white printing paper, and grabs a beer from the mini fridge which is hidden there. He takes a sip, lets the cool, bubbly liquid slide down his throat and he instantly feels a lot calmer. 

Thirty minutes after arriving, his eye strain is killing him, and Louis regretfully thinks of his glasses which are sitting on his bedside table. With a groan and a lean back in his chair, Louis decides to go and grab another beer from the secret fridge. He’s on the way back to his desk when he hears a clang, mid-sip. He spits out his beer and puts down the bottle while looking around for something to defend himself with incase it was a burglar (which is completely impossible because a special card is required to get into the building, and their floor, and their office space). Louis picks up a long roll of butchers paper and holds it high above his head with two hands. He approaches the noise slowly, but drops his makeshift sword when he realizes who it is. 

“Harry?” he says as he sees the other man sneaking into the kitchen area. “What the hell are you doing here?” 

Harry jumps as he turns around and faces Louis, a hand on his heart as he realizes that someone else was in the office. He quickly lets out a breathy laugh when he realizes who it is. 

“Louis, mate, I could ask you the same thing!” Harry replies, looking gorgeous as ever in a pair of dark jeans and a grey tee, a wool lined denim jacket over the top. 

Louis sighs before answering, “Just wanted to get some work done instead of sitting at home watching Netflix.” Louis replies, picking his bottle up off of the floor and strolling back over to his desk. Harry follows, and soon the sound of his own computer starting up is filling the air between them. 

“So, why are you here?” Louis asks again. 

“My wife is out of town this weekend, and I was doing the same, watching Netflix at home, when I thought of the report I need to finish before Grace gets back on Sunday afternoon. I want to spend the small part of the weekend that we have together being together, if that makes sense, rather than me doing work and her watching telly.”

Louis takes a deep breath and nods, “Yeah of course, that’s understandable.” 

They sit in a comfortable enough silence for about twenty minutes, each of them on their respective computers, the only sound filling the room the quick taps of their keyboards and occasional clicks of their mouse’s. 

There has been no typing or clicking for a solid couple of minutes when Louis’ tummy lets out a very loud rumble. At least it seems very loud with just the two of them in the room.

Harry turns around very slowly in his chair, and Louis feels his face go bright red. 

“Hungry mate?” Harry asks with a chuckle. 

Louis nods sheepishly, “Guess I forgot to have dinner before I came back to the office.” 

“Well,” Harry starts, pulling out his phone. “Lucky we’re in the city and everything is still open past ten.” 

Louis is confused, a question on his lips as Harry turns his phone around so that Louis can see the screen. 

Uber Eats. Perfect. 

+

Three different Chinese meals later, Harry and Louis are in the office kitchen laughing about something, and Louis is really enjoying his company. They often don’t get to spend a lot of time just the two of them. The office is always crowded so they rarely talk other than a quick hello in passing, and despite being desk buds under the same company, they’re actually in different departments, Louis in accounting and Harry in events management. So, yeah they don’t get to spend much time talking.

“This is nice,” Harry comments, taking a sip of beer after finishing the last spring roll. “I can’t believe we never talk like this, we don’t ever seem to have any one-on-one time.” 

“Yeah,” Louis replies, also tipping back the beer bottle to finish the liquid inside. His phone lights up with a Netflix notification, and he gets a sneak of the time, 11:30, and takes another deep sigh, which is all he seems to be doing these days. “Should probably head home, though, it’s getting pretty late.” 

Harry nods in agreement. “Fair enough. Do you live far away?” 

“Yeah,” Louis replies, “about fifty minutes by public transport, so it’ll take me a while to get home. And I’m saving up for a car so I don’t really want to spend money on a cab or an Uber and that.” 

Louis takes another look at the time and comes to a horrible realization. 

“Fuck, my tube station closed at 11, and I don’t have enough cash on me right now to fork out forty pounds for a cab.” 

It’s quiet for a couple of moments, before Harry breaks the silence. 

“Would you like me to lend you some money?” 

Louis is horrified, he doesn’t want to be seen as someone who is weak or cannot provide for himself. He’s 22, he’s not seven, he doesn’t need someone to give him an allowance or travel money. 

“Oh, God, Harry no, I could never do that, please, no I don’t want your money.” 

Harry is silent for another couple of moments before his face lights up.

“I could drop you home if you want? Or you could stay over at mine? We have a spare room, and like I said before my wife is out of town. And then you could just catch the tube home tomorrow morning?” 

“Oh my god, are you serious? Thirty minutes by car is a long way, Harry, that’s an hour of driving there and back, I don’t want you to do that for me, especially at this time of night.” 

“Fine, you can just stay at mine. It’s only about fifteen minutes away from here anyway.” 

Louis is in awe of this man, this is the first time they have hung out just the two of them in a casual sort of sense, and Harry is already inviting him over. "You're absolutely sure?"

“Of course, Louis,” Harry seems so genuine, Louis can’t help but nod bashfully in agreement. 

“Besides, you’re the only one from our gang who hasn’t been over to my place.” 

Louis is mock offended, “Do you have something against me, Harold? Is there a reason why I’ve never been invited over to your flat?” 

Harry lets out a loud bark of laughter, “Not at all, mate, just haven’t had a chance to invite you over. You always seem to race out of the office as soon as the clock strikes five-oh-one.” 

He chuckles slightly, not-so-subtly sliding of his chair, and pushing his phone and wallet into his pocket. “Yeah, I guess I’m just desperate to get home. The journey takes so long and I don’t want to stay in my god forsaken tie for any longer.” 

“I agree, oh my god, I hate wearing a suit and tie.” Harry groans. 

Louis laughs again, “We should head off now, though, hey? I’m pretty tired, it’s been a big day.”

Harry agrees, and gathers the empty Chinese takeaway boxes and pushes them into the bin. Louis helps, and soon enough they're saving their work, turning their computers off and walking side by side to the elevator. 

\+ 

They don’t talk much the whole way to Harry’s place, from the walk to the car, the fifteen minute drive and the elevator ride up to the seventeenth floor. Louis is quite impressed with the apartment where Harry lives as soon as he steps inside. 

“Wow, how can you afford such a place, what does your wife do? I’m really impressed with the décor.” 

Harry laughs again, pulling open the fridge as Louis takes a seat on his black leather couch. “My wife is a real estate agent, so she got a really good deal on this place. And also she’s obsessed with minimalism so she’s also really into interior design and Feng Shui and all that shit. Beer?” 

“Please.” Louis replies. He doesn’t have to drive, he doesn’t plan on going home for at least seven hours so it doesn’t really matter how much he drinks. Harry brings them both over a Stella and comes to sit next to him on the couch. He turns the TV on to a random channel and turns the volume low, just for some background noise, before turning his body towards Louis. 

“You said you had a big day, what happened that made it particularly tiring?” Harry asks. 

Louis sighs again, “I went on another date with Adam, and it ended badly to say the least.” 

Harry nods, “Did you want to talk about it? I know it only happened a couple of hours ago, so if it’s still too raw then that’s okay.” 

“Nah, its fine, Niall would have grilled me anyway.” Louis takes a deep breath before continuing. “Like, the night started out okay, we went to a nice restaurant like we did on our first date.” 

Harry hums, taking a sip of his beer and gesturing for Louis to continue. 

“And like it was a nice place, you know, high end and expensive. And then one of his clients came up and started talking about a case that they’re working on together.” 

Just repeating all of this reminds Louis that it was only four or five hours ago that all of this went down. It feels like so much longer. 

“And the client made some really horrible degrading comments about women and his gay son and Adam agreed! He kept nodding and agreeing with what this random fucker was saying about being gay even though Adam is gay, and I’m just so confused as to why. Like Adam said that he needs to connect with his clients but why would he take a job defending a fucking cunt dick bag.” 

Harry laughs, at that last comment, but his chuckle dies out when he sees the sad look on Louis’ face. 

“Aw, are you okay, Lou?” 

Louis takes another deep breath and tries to hold back the burning of tears from behind his eyes. 

“I just really wanted this to work out, we just had a really great time together the past couple of dates. I guess his gross comments just reminded me of the stuff people used to say at high school. Like I wasn’t tormented or bullied really bad or anything like that but like a couple of passing comments every day made me feel so much less secure about myself and I hated myself so much for about a year or so. And just as I’m starting to get a bit more comfortable in myself, some ass dick makes some shit comments and I’m back to being pathetic and feeling sorry for myself.” 

Louis takes another big sip of beer, almost downing the rest of it. 

“Oh, Lou, I didn’t know that you went through all of that. I’m honestly so sorry.” 

Louis shrugs, “yeah, well, it is what it is. Nothing I can do to change what happened.” 

During Louis’ vent about his evening, both men subconsciously moved closer together, their bodies facing each other, body language open, almost identical. Each of them have one leg tucked under the other, arms resting against the top of the couch. They’re sitting so close, their knees are touching, and Louis has to take another gulp of beer in order to stop his hands from touching Harry’s legs. 

Turns out Louis doesn’t have to resist, because for some unknown reason, Harry’s hands slide from his lap and onto Louis’ thigh. He gives it four reassuring pats, and then leaves it there. 

Maybe Louis is drunker than he thought, maybe his emotions are running on a high or maybe he just really fucking likes Harry. It’s so hard to suppress a shiver, so Louis closes his eyes and waits for Harry to move his hand. 

It seems as though hours have gone by when Harry shifts his hand back into his lap and Louis can open his eyes to face the other man again. Harry is sitting even closer and Louis is so confused at this point. He could possibly count every freckle, every eyelash, he’s so close. Harry is looking very intensely into Louis’ eyes, much like that time in the office when Louis told the guys about his first date with Adam. Louis is the first to break the intense eye contact, moving his head completely so he’s looking away from Harry and into his modern looking kitchen. 

Louis almost jumps four meters in the air when he feels Harry’s body heat closer than ever, he can feel Harry’s body, hard and warm, up against him. Harry touches Louis’ hand, running his thumb over the back of it, Louis is still not looking at him. He only does when he can feel Harry’s hot breath on his neck. 

“Just let this happen, Louis,” Harry whispers, placing soft kisses on the sensitive skin there. “I know you want it. I see the way you look at me.” 

And the worst thing is that Louis does want it, he wants to feel Harry’s hands on his body, smell his cologne and only his cologne, he wants to suck bruises up his neck, wants to mark him up, but it’s wrong. 

He mutters as much, and Harry quiets him with a hard kiss to the lips. Their first kiss

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” 

Louis nods, “I won’t.” he whispers quietly before Harry presses his lips to the other boy’s quickly. 

The kiss is hard, passionate, rough. Harry shoves his tongue straight into Louis mouth, running it over every crevice he can reach. 

Louis pulls away quickly, having enough self control to decide again that this is wrong. “We can’t, Harry, we’ve had a lot to drink, and it’s very late. You can’t do this to your wife.” 

Harry looks dazed, his eyes dark, lips even darker, curly hair a mess around his beautiful face. “She’s not here right now. Tell me right now, that you don’t want this.”

Harry moves closer, almost crawling over Louis, like a lion stalking its prey.

“Tell me that you don’t want me to fuck you into this couch. Tell me that you don’t want me to mark you up. Tell me that right now and I’ll stop.” 

It’s wrong, it’s so fucking wrong, but Louis doesn’t have it in him to say no. A couple of seconds pass, and Harry smirks. 

“Thought so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooo stuff is getting stEAMYYYYYY
> 
> i was going to put the smut scene in here but also this chapter is long enough and it defs makes the next chapter extra exciting ayyeee
> 
> like I said before, uni has started so idk how often i'll be able to update but i will try my very best to ensure that youre not waiting millions of years for the upcoming chapters
> 
> pls leave comments and kudos, let me know your thoughts and if you see any mistakes !!
> 
> lots of love and thanks for reading xxxx


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